REVIEW: &Juliet - Queensland Academy of Excellence in Musical Theatre (QAEMT)

&Juliet

Presented by: Queensland Academy of Excellence in Musical Theatre (QAEMT)

Venue: Queensland Conservatorium Theatre

Date Attended: 5 August 2026

Director: Alister Smith

Musical Director: Heidi Loveland

Choreographer: Dan Venz

Associate Choreographer: Emma Whitefield

Set Designer and Costume Co-Designer: Penny Challen

Costume Co-Designer and Supervisor: Gayle MacGregor

Lighting Designer: Keith Clark

Sound Designer: Steve Thornely

Voice and Dialect Coach: Dr Melissa Agnew

Photography: Kenn Wylchie

CAST AT THIS PERFORMANCE:

Juliet Capulet: AJ Betts

Romeo Montague: Caelan McCarthy

William Shakespeare: Saul Kavenagh

Anne Hathaway / April: Ella Wood

Nurse Angélique: Zoe Allsopp Lander

May: Sam Thomas

François Du Bois: Harry Ince

Lance Du Bois: Ned Kelly

The roles of Juliet, Romeo, Anne Hathaway / April, Angélique, and Lance were shared across the season with Alessia Charman, Jackson Hughesman, Lily Bennetts, Addisyn Herndon, and Lachlan Dunks.

“Do we have freedom? No. But do we have hope? No.”

This was my third production of &Juliet, yet Queensland Academy of Excellence in Musical Theatre gave me plenty of new details to enjoy! It also offered Brisbane audiences the rare chance to see the show after the professional Australian tour skipped our city (rude).

Created by Schitt’s Creek writer David West Read, &Juliet interrupts the final pages of Romeo and Juliet before its teenage heroine can stab herself over a boy she met just four days ago. Anne Hathaway seizes her husband’s quill and asks to rewrite one of Shakespeare's most famous tragedies. In this tale, Juliet leaves her past behind to travel to Paris with her nurse Angelique and new friends May and April (aka Anne, who has written herself into the story). There they discover Lance (Angelique’s former lover) and his son François, who is looking to shake off his father’s expectations and forge his own life. With Juliet’s own parents trying to send her to a convent, who will Juliet finally choose? Or, does she need to choose at all?!

From there, everyone interferes, dead boyfriends return, engagements are hastily arranged, and every personal crisis is expressed through one of Max Martin’s epic pop songs: Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Katy Perry, P!nk, Bon Jovi, Celine Dion, Ariana Grande, Kelly Clarkson, Demi Lovato, Ke$ha, Jessie J... You won’t believe how many bangers this show can fit into two and a half hours!

Director Alister Smith frames the production as a fresh story being built in front of our eyes, with Penny Challen’s scenic design blending a rehearsal room, theatre workshop, and backstage area at a stadium concert. Cables, lighting equipment, graffitied cases, scaffolding, costume racks, neon signage, glitter curtains, and movable staircases create a world that can shift whenever Anne alters the plot. A quick clap clap from Will or Anne hits the pause button, freezing the cast mid-action so they can debate their next rewrite.

Penny Challen and Gayle MacGregor’s costumes are like a time-travelling fusion of Renaissance and rave clubwear. Corsets sit over graphic tees, ruffs are paired with skinny jeans and sneakers, and fluoro paniers bounce around the dance ensemble. Ned Kelly struts his stuff in leopard-print tights, and Ella Wood's glitter boots have my wholehearted approval. Juliet’s wardrobe is an explosion of pink, from her Capulet-branded corset and shoulder-padded jacket to a jewelled crop, tiered skirt, and white cowboy boots. Her wedding look, followed by the transformation during “Roar,” was possibly my favourite version of that quick change so far.

As Juliet, AJ Betts STUNS from the moment they open their mouth for “…Baby One More Time.” Singing these tunes while busting moves in a corset might seem insane, yet Betts pulls it off with the poise and power of a pop headliner. Their Juliet is wonderfully youthful and spunky, throwing herself headfirst into this sudden new freedom and the excitement of having an entire future opened up. Betts is also naturally funny, with a dry delivery that makes some of Juliet’s smallest reactions land just as well as the bigger punchlines. Vocally, Betts seems completely at home in the pop material. Their duet “Oops!... I Did It Again” with Zoe Allsopp Lander is one of the evening’s top vocal treats, with both performers nailing the Britney style.

Betts and Harry Ince establish a playful dynamic between Juliet and François. Their “Confident” has the ease of two new friends hyping each other up. Ince gives François a softness that works particularly well beside Sam Thomas’s snappy interpretation of May. Thomas plays May with more sass than the sorrow I’m used to, walking into scenes with a quick tongue, a distinctive accent (Essex? I don’t know!), and no interest in making themself smaller for anyone else. When “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman” arrives, Thomas claims that stage. The song becomes both a quiet confession and a declaration from someone who knows who they are and is exhausted by everyone else needing time to catch up. Thomas and Ince are a vocal dream team during “I Kissed a Girl” and “Whataya Want from Me.”

Saul Kavenagh is hilariously pompous, dorky, and endearingly irritating as William Shakespeare. He knows Will is ridiculous, and plays it so. His ego is enormous, his frustration becomes increasingly childish, and he still retains enough boyish appeal to explain why Anne has tolerated him for this long.

Kavenagh and Caelan McCarthy form an entertaining dude-bro alliance once Romeo makes his comeback through “It’s My Life.” In sequinned trousers and aviators, McCarthy carries himself like the headline act has finally bothered to show up, while Will trails behind like an overexcited roadie (with his dramatic fog machine) At one point, McCarthy appeared to be swallowing half the fog machine’s output and continued serving rockstar confidence (professionalism king!). His voice matches the entrance, with a muscular rock sound and super impressive upper range, while his playful characterisation keeps Romeo’s ridiculous self-importance likeable.

The number “One More Try” with Betts is also a reminder that the role requires far more than swagger. Both their vocal ranges are frankly outrageous and had me in constant awe. Against a starlit backdrop, the pair circle one another on the moving staircases, remaining connected while the physical distance reflects everything still unresolved between them.

Ella Wood as Anne Hathaway is sweeter and more composed than the pun-driven, cutely-cringe versions I’ve previously seen. Rather than leaning heavily into April’s social awkwardness, Wood brings a gentle, materal presence that strengthens her relationship with Juliet and gives Anne’s own desire for a different life much more weight. And then she sings... “That’s the Way It Is” is DIVINE. Wood’s tone is pure and clear, with a healthy mix belt that blooms as the number builds. She sings with such sincerity that the audience cheered before she had even finished the song, leaving Heidi Loveland and the band patiently waiting for the room to settle before continuing.

Zoe Allsopp Lander brings terrific momentum to Angélique. Her dialogue rolls effortlessly off the tongue, and she makes the Nurse’s combination of maturity, exasperation, and romantic chaos feel completely natural. Her rendition of “Perfect” is vocally gorgeous, giving Angélique and Juliet’s relationship room to bloom amid the louder numbers.

Ned Kelly as Lance Du Bois is French, shameless, and doing the absolute most at ALL times. During “Teenage Dream,” he chases Angélique around the room like a lovesick cartoon character while still managing to sing cleanly through that deliberately outrageous accent. Later, “Everybody” turns the Du Bois men into a fully-costumed Backstreet Boys tribute band against a hypnotic glitter-curtain effect.

Dan Venz and Emma Whitefield’s choreography blew me away. “Larger Than Life,” “Show Me Love,” and “Blow” are particularly packed with movement, while the ensemble handles the material with professional precision. The choreography is littered with musical theatre and pop-culture references that flash past in seconds (but I see ALL). Kavenagh’s shameless participation in “I Kissed a Girl” was one such detail. I saw you there, puppet master Shakespeare.

I think &Juliet is an ideal choice for this cohort, needing bold personalities, dancers who can attack pop choreography, and singers capable of handling material written for some of the largest voices in modern music. The third-year performers lead the principal cast, second years fill out the dance ensemble, and first years contribute vocals while helping move the set pieces. It turns the musical into a genuine academy-wide showcase.

Steve Thornely’s sound design gives these huge voices room to fly while keeping the lyrics clear, and each new song earns happy murmurs of recognition before the arrangement kicks in. Heidi Loveland leads a cracking live band of Queensland Conservatorium and Young Conservatorium musicians, with strings adding extra richness to the pop arrangements. Keith Clark’s lighting supports that scale beautifully. LED strips frame the front of the stage, vertical neon tubes lower into scenes, and standing spotlights are wheeled through the action like concert equipment. “Roar” feels like the finale of a stadium concert, with Betts at its centre beneath the full lighting rig, completing a major costume transformation, and belting over the full ensemble and band. It is a demanding final stretch, and they OWN it. I can imagine how unstoppable that moment must have felt.

Beneath the backstage machinery, neon excess, and pop-culture silliness remains a simple idea: the ending somebody else wrote for you doesn’t have to become the life you accept. Juliet gets to survive, May gets to define themself, and even Romeo receives another chance to be slightly less of a douche.

For Brisbane audiences who missed the professional tour, this production is a pretty spectacular introduction to &Juliet. It gives this graduating cohort exactly the kind of material they can sink their teeth into: ridiculous pop vocals, relentless choreography, huge personalities, and plenty of room to show us who they are as performers. This next generation of musical theatre performers are very much ready to take the mic.